Lieutenant Valin Dermont - Stubborn Conversationalists

[Toryn Raga]

((Poseidon's Lounge, Deck 2, USS Atlantis))

((OOC: Day 1 of leave evening hours.))

 

Raga: Careful, Valin. That's the spiciest dish my people make. Unless you want your own exhaust manifold cleaned for the rest of eternity, you might want to avoid it. 

 

::The Al-leyan grabbed a plate for himself and joined Dermont at the buffet.  The engineer gave a big grin at his best friend on board the Atlantis and ladled even more into the bowl.  There was no doubt Raga was right, but there was just something about being told he shouldn't that just made his want it all the more.::  

 

Dermont: Bah, Toryn.  Have faith in yer good buddy...

 

Raga:  Oh I do. I have faith that that will send you to sickbay. ::He chuckled:: 

 

::Dermont's plate was now stacked high and he thermos was tucked under one arm.  He carefully balanced his food and with one free hand pointed a finger at the other man.::

 

Dermont:  Don't ya think I've fergotten yer little mutiny either, lad.

 

Raga:  Mutiny? What in the winds are you talking about, Valin?

 

Dermont:  You in cahoots with sickbay gettin' me in fer mah physical.  I know ya were in on it.  Just been thinkin' on an appropriate response.  Can't let ya go unscathed now can I?

 

::Watching the Al-Leyan go stone-faced on him was all the admission of guilt Dermont needed.  He glanced at the owl-bird-thing perched on his friend's shoulder.  Even her expression seemed suddenly stiff.  It was like the two of them practiced in the mirror together.  Dermont slowly guided the conversation towards an empty table.::

 

Raga:  I have no idea what you're talking about. I would never need to use such underhanded tactics to get the Chief Engineer to report for his physical knowing he a responsible, Starfleet officer who would never shirk his mandated duties by creating problems with the ship he feels compelled to fix on his own when he has an entire department of engineers to delegate the work to. Because he trusts them to know how to fix their own ship to his highest of standards. 

 

::Dermont narrowed his eyebrows and gave the Security Chief a hard stare.  The man wasn't giving anything away, but the engineer would swear the other was attempting to be funny.  The terran leaned in closer, seeing if Toryn's mask would slip.  Without taking his eyes off of him, Dermont began to stuff his face with a biscuit, smacking loudly.  Nope, nothing.  Spitting crumbs in the security officer's direction, Dermont relented a bit.::

 

Dermont: Well, o'course not.  Yer Mister Shinin' Example.   That'd be a terrible thang ta do ta yer good friend Dermont.  Causin' him ta need all sortsa nonsensical tests and pokes and prods.  Ye'd never do anything ta bring 'bout such hazards to poor lil ole me.  Bah...what was I thinkin'?  Yer too good a soul fer such antics!  Knight, maybe...never Mr. Raga....

 

::The other man just took another sip of his damn tea and said nothing.  He wondered how long they'd play this game, but before they could find out a voice cut through the air.  It was a beautiful voice that brought a sad smile to this face.  He couldn't help but stop his eating and just listen. He had no clue what she was saying, but somehow the words cut straight to his soul.  He just sat there when it was over as all around him applause broke out.  Toryn's elbow brought him back to the here and now.::

 

Raga: That was beautiful. 

 

Dermont: Aye it was.  ::He banged his thermos on the table as way of adding to the applause.::

 

::A clanging of a utensil on glass cut through the clapping, and the first officer addressed the crowd.::

 

Williams: ::Raising his voice slightly:: My dear shipmates. I am pleased to see you all here. As you can see and hear we have a ship of many talented people. Although we only know each other for a year, and some only for a few days, we still have much to explore. This quadrant has its mysteries but so do the wonderful people we work with. The singing skills of Ensign Maeli here are but an example. I hope we can do this more often. A talent show like the old days on Earth might be a bit overkill but if you want to interest your fellow crewmates into a hobby we could have a monthly entertainment evening or something. Right captain?

 

Brell: ::Responding loud enough for the room to hear.:: Agreed! We must remember to pursue our off duty passions, and share them with fellow shipmates.  

 

Williams: That settles it then. I want you all to enjoy your evening tonight. Relax, feast and enjoy! That’s an order!

 

Brell: Just don’t go anywhere, In about an hour I have a few surprises to share.

 

::As if in challenge, another song picked up and carried over the party. He instantly recognized the tune as a Klingon one. In face, he himself had sung it on more than one occasion on board the Endurance. His Klingon crewman had taught all of them many a song while drinking their evenings away on whatever local pub their freighter parked in orbit over. Dermont had to grin as he listened to the Klingons and their Worene companion carry on with what must have been a slightly intoxicated enthusiasm.::

 

::A glance over at his friend revealed that Klingon drinking songs did not elicit the same warm memories. He knew that Toryn had a troubled past with the Klingons, and did not hold the feelings against him. They had cost his brother his life, much as the Romulans had taken Dermont's old crew from him. However, his was the superior officer of one of the two officers and outranked both of them. If Dermont could hold it in and not shoot Danara or Serala on sight, Toryn could reign it in. Of course, he had noticed the Al-leyan's temper had become much shorter as of late. But that was a whole other mess...::

 

oO Which is perhaps a good reason ta shoot Serala...heritage aside... Oo

 

Dermont: Perhaps ye'd best leave the scowlin' of junior officers ta me, eh?

 

Raga: Huh? Bad enough having one of them on board. Now there's two.

 

::He said with far more spite in his tone than he would have expected to hear.::

 

Dermont: Rein it in....Lieutenant. One of those lads calls you a superior officer....

 

::Another song from the Rodulan and their first officer. Despite himself, Dermont found himself enjoying the evening. Of course everything hurt and he was so tired he couldn't help but stifle another yawn...but still. Enjoyable. His eyes couldn't help was wander on the group and he spied Serala enjoying the singing as well. Which made it his turn to scowl. He still wasn't convinced that she wasn't under some sort of mind compulsion. The scans he had covertly taken of her and her husband had revealed a large presence of mental stimulation, as well as increased levels of dopamine during said stimulation. Perhaps she was being brainwashed...::

 

oO She had better hope she is...fer her sake... Oo

 

::Dermont couldn't help but look over at Toryn.  The poor lad had been finally struggling past his own brainwashing due to his bloody heritage to try and tell Serala how he felt and then she went an got married!  Without warning.  It had crushed his soul.  And while Dermont had just overcome to own prejudices to start calling Serala a friend, he couldn't see past such as transgression against Toryn.  There was just no way the damn woman didn't know how Raga had felt.  Their junior officers had known it, everybody had known it.  The watched the bird peck at Toryn.:: 

 

Dermont: Is yer bird thinkin' what I'm thinkin'? Now yer hidin' from her? From her?! She should be on bended knee tryin' ta make amends!

 

::Dermont had been in a biobed at the end of the mission, on a Romulan Warbird. Then he had been stuck in Jefferies' Tubs since he had gotten back...he had not yet heard any gossip about the two of them.::

 

Raga: Valin, please it's fine. I need to stay away from her for a while. The cloud messed us both up and she's dealing with what happened. Besides. ::He turned to face the grizzled engineer:: I think things between Lael and I are going well. So, I have someone to focus on as well.

 

oO Happened? Somethin' happened... Oo

 

::But the mention of Lael brought an even deeper scowl to the engineer's face.  Lieutenant Commander Lael Rosek, Chief Engineer of the USS Veritas.  Half Al-Leyan, and a pain in Dermont's [...] by proxy.  She was a woman in a relationship...who had spun into Raga's life and turned it upside down.  He had taken great pains to know as much about this woman as he could.  And he didn't like her not one bit.::

 

Dermont: Bah, damn pain in mah [...]...

 

Raga: Why do you not like Lael so much?

 

oO Fair question... Oo

 

Dermont: Hmmm...ya know, it was originally because I was rootin' on ya endin' up with someone from the home team. ::He put up a hand before the emotions rolled out of Toryn.:: I had me heart set on you and that damn Romulan. As far as I'm concerned, that's still the safe bet, despite current events. And this damn Lael just swoops in and put yer heart all a'tangled. And unless yer plannin' on playin' third wheel, doesn't she have a man already?

 

::The engineer knew that many cultures didn't not practice monogamy, and Al-Leyans sometimes needed to have intercourse with literally the first Al-Leyan of the opposite sex they could find. So perhaps that wasn't as important to them. But dammit, Dermont was a human and Lael was half-human and he doubted his current partner wasn't going to be keen on Toryn climbing under the sheets.::

 

Raga: response

 

Dermont: Yer so wrapped up in all of this...can ye just take a step back...from all of it. Just fer a bit. Ye've got so much drama fer a man without any ex-wives...

 

Raga: response

 

::Dermont was a very overprotective friend. He knew he had his nose firmly where it didn't belong, but he had no plans on removing it any time soon. The more angry or embarrassed or depressed Raga become the more the old Terran was going to latch on. He'd drag the damn Al-Leyan boy to the other side of this mess one way or the other.::

 

=================

 

Lieutenant Valin Dermont

Chief Engineer

USS Atlantis

A239410VD0